Friday, July 3rd, 2009...7:26 am
The Bucher Tweet
48MoH reader mattmo28 exchanged tweets with Ric Bucher last night:
mattmo28@RicBucher Whats the deal with the Spurs not pushing for Sheed? Who are we after? Who fits best?about 4 hours ago from web in reply to RicBucher@mattmo28 Have heard McDyess and Frye. There’s a chance Tiago Splitter could be coming over, which would solve a *lot* of problems.
If you’re keeping up, which is a difficult task at this point, the Spurs are connected to a lot of free agents. Channing Frye, Brandon Bass, Rasheed Wallace, Marcin Gortat, Lamar Odom, Antonio McDyess, Morris Almond and Josh Childress. Here’s what I take from it: no one outside the Spurs brass is privy to their targets, and I suspect that they’ve not limited themselves to a single name just yet.
Prior to July 1, the Spurs had to make a decision of whether to strike fast in free agency or to sit out the initial frenzy and let other teams set the table for them. By all appearances, they’ve chosen the path of patience. The disadvantage to this decision is that your best options-Rasheed Wallace, as an example-will receive lavish invitations from elsewhere prior to speaking with you. If the money is more or less equal, a big showing of love is the deciding factor. Or so goes the thinking of GMs who spent the initial minutes of July 1st knocking on a free agent’s door. There is a certain logic to this approach, a logic that falls apart as soon as Marcin Gortat commits to Dallas. Nevertheless, Joe Dumars landed his guys by striking fast. It can be the right move.
But patience has its rewards. The Spurs can take advantage of the successes and failures of other teams. Who knows, maybe the Lakers acquisition of Ron Artest will cause Buford and company to rethink their targets. Or maybe the domino effect of that signing indirectly favors San Antonio. Another advantage to waiting is that the Spurs can more accurately evaluate cost. Rasheed Wallace is visiting San Antonio next week. Boston reportedly offered Sheed the MLE for two years. So, if you’re the Spurs….
The longer the free agent season drags out, the less money there is to spend. Or, put differently, a player’s ability to leverage one team’s cash against another’s decreases. The Spurs are putting themselves in a position to bargain hunt.
Worse case scenario: the Spurs have to choose between Drew Gooden and Zaza Pachulia, or some such. That’s not so bad. It’s still an upgrade over last year’s team, with a healthy Ginobili, a freshly acquired Jefferson, and young players such as DeJuan Blair, George Hill and Ian Mahinmi in the mix.
The curious thing about the Bucher tweet is the inclusion of Tiago Splitter’s name. Here’s the deal: rumors have circulated for a month or more that Baskonia might be open to letting Splitter go for a fee. The short explanation says they’re going through a minor rebuild, and it might make more basketball and financial sense to part with Splitter now rather than later. For Splitter, there is the opportunity to step in and play important minutes on what has the promise of being a championship contending squad. But nothing has come from Splitter or the Spurs to this end. The Spurs have maintained that Splitter is not in their plans this summer; Splitter remains under contract in Spain. I’d guess that Bucher has heard this chatter, but little else.
Don’t get your hopes up about Tiago Splitter. And besides, some of the other free agent options might be better fits for the Spurs. As a friend recently half-joked, the Spurs are in danger of getting too young too fast. Tim Duncan will feel like he’s running a daycare if flanked by DeJuan Blair, Ian Mahinmi, Tiago Splitter and James Gist.
The lesson within the Tiago Splitter rumor is that the Spurs’ front office is juggling more balls than we know about. They might surprise us.
Now that we’re a full 48 hours into the free agent period some fans are frustrated that the Spurs haven’t been more aggressive. Where is the full court press that is required to sign a name like Rasheed Wallace? But we should relax a bit. The Spurs have lots of options at their disposal, and the offseason is young. Let it play out. The team will come out just fine.
14 Comments
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:59 am
Damn it Tim, you guys get us all pumped up and zeroed-in ‘Sheed then you drop this “calm down” on us
Is everyone thinking that main media “experts” (ESPN’s is a good example) are more and more on the outside looking in with each new day? They utter completely dubious “insight” and make outrageous claims that never actually happen.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:38 am
You know, after all these years of being a Spurs fan, I’m not going to question them anymore. I’m going to sit back and trust that they know what they’re doing. It’s more my patience and eagerness that I’m going to have to control.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Frye has some nice skills and length, but is definitely soft..
I would rather see us get Sheed or Bass.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
If I hear Tiago Splitter’s name again, this season, I may become crazier than Ron Artest. This is just getting ridiculous. But if he really does come over this summer, well screw me, I’ll run to Academy and get me a jersey real quick.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 am
I would’ve loved to get Sheed, but I get a little worried about our team now that Ron Artest is a Laker, Shaq is with Cleveland, and Rasheed could be goinbg to Boston.
If we want to win the championship this year, we better sign someone that can contribute right now.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 am
I saw the name Morris Almond on that post and was pretty surprised. Why would the Spurs chase him? I’ve seen him play a little here in SLC and he’s a good shooter, but where would he possibly fit? He doesn’t seem to be a capable backup PG to me, and aren’t we pretty flush w/Gin0bili/Mason/Finley at the 2?
Just curious about that name on there. I know that nobody really knows at this point but that one stuck out like a sore thumb to me.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 am
SAinSLC,
I’m with you, but follow the link. My guess: the Spurs will work him out early next week and if he does well they might give him a summer league invitation. That’s conjecture, though.
Here is something else to note: the Spurs have only invited three legit NBA frontcourters to summer league. Mahinmi, Blair and Gist. I betcha they run a three man rotation up and really test their youngsters. If they don’t think they can expect much, they might target or trade for another big in addition to the MLE-an LLE big.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
Spurs fans need to have a little faith in R.C. and Popovich. These guys have shown they know what they are doing most of the time. They are certainly working their tails off right now, but they are doing so quietly. Give it some time.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Come on Sheed, no state income tax.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:20 am
Of all the available bigs Frye followed by McDyess is my choice for the Spurs.
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Calm down? If it comes down to Gooden or Pachulia, you can forget about competing for a championship this season. The time is now. The fate of this team for next season is in these next couple of days (maybe a week). If Wallace isn’t signed, the team just won’t have the horses in the front court. The only other name that would give them a chance is McDyess.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I’m a bit mixed on this one. Sure, you don’t want to panic this early in the free agency period…but on the other hand, it’s important to strike early if you want to get your top target. I don’t think we have improved our chances at getting Sheed by appearing to be less than enthusiastic to his agent and through the media. Boston meanwhile, have come out all guns blazing and seem to be at an advantage to secure his services because of it. Of course, you never really know what is going on behind the scenes, do you?
Frye is an interesting one. I think he has some potential, and is a decent mid-range shooter, which should give TD or Blair plenty of room to operate down low. He doesn’t appear to be very strong though and does little alleviate our rebounding issues.
Is Marion completely off the table? I know he wants more than the MLE, but the teams that can offer that aren’t going to be competing for a title any time soon. Maybe he would take a few million less in order to be in the championship mix.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Although warned not to do so, I feel like a prairie dog popping it’s head out of the hole to say “Splitter? Did some one say Splitter?” I thoroughly enjoyed watching him play during last year’s Olympics.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Hey, does any0ne have any Mahinmi video links? He is the one player on the roster that I’m never too sure how solid his game is?
Happy 4th to all.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
[...] Either way, our focus is no longer on Sheed but who will now start in the frontcourt alongside Duncan. Frequently mentioned targets include Antonio McDyess, Brandon Bass, and Channing Frye. And don’t forget that, in some people’s opinion, Tiago Splitter remains a possibility. [...]
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